You may have heard me say it on the floor and in these emails more times than you can count: consistency is the single biggest driver of progress in your fitness.
Nothing else is close.
But consistency doesn’t run on willpower. It runs on two things:
You have to see the value in the time, energy, and money you’re putting in, and the process has to be at least a little enjoyable. Or at minimum, not miserable. : )
In 25 years of helping people build muscle, drop weight, and feel better in their own skin, I’ve noticed something: it’s far easier for folks to add a few appointments to their week than to subtract the things they enjoy.
That’s not a flaw. That’s just being human.
So yes, you’ll have to pick your battles with alcohol, sweets, and the calorie-dense stuff like pizza and bagels. But here’s the part people miss:
Don’t cut too much.
A few years back I had a client chasing a modest goal – 5 to 8 pounds. We sat down with their food journal (which, for the record, will always be one of the most powerful tools you can use), and before I said a word, they looked at me and said, “Please don’t take away my chocolate.”
The chocolate? Two small squares of dark chocolate. Eighty calories. Eaten right after lunch every day as a little afternoon lift instead of a second coffee.
I like to say “small hinges swing big doors” all the time. This was a small hinge attached to a very small door.
Run the math. Cutting 80 calories a day works out to losing one pound roughly every FIFTY days.
And imagine I’d taken it away – and those last few pounds still took a couple of months to come off, which absolutely happens. I’d have accomplished exactly two things:
- Recommended a change that might shed one pound in fifty days.
- Made my client quietly resent every minute of the process.
That’s a terrible trade.
Here’s the lesson: never make a change that makes you resent the work of getting healthier.
Whatever you adjust first – your schedule, your nutrition – should be easy enough that you’ll actually stick with it.
Stack up easy wins. Winning feels good, and that feeling keeps you coming back.
Then, once those wins start adding up and you start feeling better, that’s when you add or subtract more – because you want to, not because you think you have to.
Fitness is a journey. You won’t always love it, and it won’t always be fun. That’s fine. But it should never feel like suffering.
Because suffering isn’t sustainable.
That’s it for today. Go have some fun moving your body.
Courage.
Greg
